"Attack!"

"What are you standing around for?"

"Others may fear Qi Lao'er, but I certainly do not!"

......

The moment Geng Yan made her move, Tuoba Kuang could no longer hold back and struck out with ruthless force.

Gripping a mountain-cleaving axe in his right hand, he hurled it forward in a violent spin. The weapon swelled against the wind, expanding to a hundred meters in the blink of an eye before hurtling toward Qi Lao'er to grind him into dust.

Facing the lethal strikes of Geng Yan and Tuoba Kuang, Qi Lao'er naturally dared not act carelessly. He channeled his spatial power, shifting his body within mere inches, all while raising his staff and weaving it through the air.

Spatial power erupted in an instant. With Qi Lao'er at the center, the void collapsed for hundreds of meters in every direction, coalescing into the phantom of a ferocious desolate beast.

The beast opened its massive maw, swallowing the incoming battle axe and the vast silver river of stars in a single gulp.

"Fighting one against four-today, I want to see exactly where you get your confidence, Qi Lao'er!"

At the same time, Bai Yu and Chou Rang exchanged a glance. Both summoned their Saint King artifacts, preparing to launch their own devastating strikes.

"Stop!!"

Seeing Bai Yu and Chou Rang preparing to join the fray, Qi Lao'er quickly raised a hand to halt them.

As a fellow peak Saint King, he simply did not possess the strength to fight four equals simultaneously......

"What? Done fighting, Qi Lao'er?"

"Isn't it a little too late to be afraid!"

"Exactly. But if you choose to withdraw and hand over that brat, the four of us might be willing to let this go..."

Before Bai Yu and the others could finish, Qi Lao'er's face darkened, and he let out two cold, raspy laughs.

"I believe you are all mistaken!"

"My lifespan is nearly exhausted; I do not have many days left in this world. This boy possesses a Top Grade Five-Element Full Spiritual Root, making him the perfect candidate to become my disciple and inherit my legacy."

As he spoke, staring down the four restless Palace Masters, Qi Lao'er flipped his hand seals and activated a forbidden technique. He directly ignited his remaining life force, causing his aura to surge exponentially in an instant.

"Even by overdrawing my life, I know I cannot defeat all four of you."

"But as a fellow Saint King, I can certainly drag one or two of you down to the underworld with me!"

Whoosh-

At these words, the killing intent radiating from Geng Yan, Bai Yu, and the others froze. Their expressions shifted to profound gravity and dread.

An old man at the very end of his lifespan, willingly burning his life force-what did that mean?

It meant Qi Lao'er was ready to throw his life away!

To take Chu Chen as his disciple, he no longer cared if he lived or died.

As the old adage went: the fierce fear the reckless, and the reckless fear those who court death.

Though Geng Yan, Bai Yu, and the others desperately wanted to take Chu Chen as a disciple, compared to their own lives......

"Madman!"

Chou Rang, a man known as a lunatic himself, snorted coldly before flicking his sleeves and departing.

He had never cared much about taking disciples anyway; he had only shown up to prevent the other Palace Masters from gaining an easy advantage.

"Qi Lao'er, you are ruthless! Remember, you owe me a favor!"

Geng Yan slid her All-Heaven Star River Hairpin back into her bun, threw a flirtatious glance at Qi Lao'er, and shattered the void to leave.

Bai Yu and Tuoba Kuang exchanged a glance before following suit.

After all, who would dare provoke a dying man with nothing left to lose......

Swish!

Once the four Palace Masters were gone, Qi Lao'er secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Leaning heavily on his staff, he tore through the void and vanished into the Red King Palace.

"A Top Grade Five-Element Full Spiritual Root-it seems this old man's fate is not yet sealed! Not yet sealed!"

"I am incredibly curious, though. How has a brat with a Top Grade Full Spiritual Root reached his twenties without ever stepping onto the path of cultivation?"

"Just who are you, boy? And who is standing behind you?!"

......

Chu Chen had been forcibly relocated into the Red King Palace by spatial power. All around him, Saint-level Formations flared to life one after another, operating at maximum capacity.

Invisibly, these dozen or so Saint-level Formations drifting through the void interconnected, weaving a transparent net that tightly sealed the entire Red King Palace.

With such impenetrable defenses, ordinary Saint-level experts could never hope to break in, and even fellow Saint King-level experts would be stalled long enough for Qi Lao'er to arrive and intervene.

Qi Lao'er had left nothing to chance. He had even accounted for the possibility that the four Palace Masters might ignore his death threats and choose mutual destruction anyway.

Thus, he had activated the Saint-level Formations within the Red King Palace in advance to protect Chu Chen.

This was the true reason Qi Lao'er had appeared on Red King Mountain later than the other four Palace Masters.

To protect his newly claimed disciple, Qi Lao'er had played his trump card from the very beginning, revealing his hand without the slightest concealment-truly...

A painstaking effort!!

Chu Chen was sharp enough to see through the reasoning at a glance, and he couldn't help but feel a bit "moved" in his heart.

Of course, these dozen or so Saint-level Formations drifting in the void served another crucial function besides protecting him.

That was...

To prevent him from escaping in the chaos!

Crack! Crack!

Boom!!

While Chu Chen was still surveying the Red King Palace, fractures suddenly spiderwebbed across the void before him. The cracks expanded rapidly until space shattered like a mirror, tearing open a massive spatial rift.

Tap! Tap!

A wooden staff extended from the void, followed by Qi Lao'er's aged, hunched figure stepping into the Red King Hall.

"Huff... huff..."

Qi Lao'er's white hair hung limply around his stooped frame. Before he could even take two steps, he was already gasping for breath.

No one would ever imagine that this decrepit, bent old man who struggled just to walk was the Central Palace Master of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace-a supremely powerful Saint King-level expert.

"Boy, I will ask you one more time."

Qi Lao'er collapsed onto the throne. He pulled several Pills from his Storage Ring to restore his Spiritual Qi and blood vitality, swallowing them hastily. Looking down at Chu Chen, he forced a faint smile and asked again:

"Are you willing to join the Red King Palace and become my disciple?"

Compared to his appearance on Red King Mountain just moments ago, Qi Lao'er looked significantly older and weaker.

It was as if he might close his eyes in the next second, breathe his last, and depart from this world entirely.

Clearly, to scare off the four Palace Masters, Qi Lao'er had directly burned his already dwindling life force-pouring oil onto the fire of his own demise.

Originally, he had over a decade of life left. After this ordeal, he had less than ten years remaining.

But looking at Chu Chen standing before him, Qi Lao'er felt no regret whatsoever. It was all worth it! Completely worth it!

"To be honest with you, my lifespan is nearly at its end. In less than ten years, I will die of old age."

"If you agree to become my disciple, I will spare no effort and use everything I have to cultivate you!"

"To find a successor to inherit my techniques and divine abilities before I die-I could pass on without a single regret!"

Fearing Chu Chen might refuse, Qi Lao'er panted heavily while desperately painting a grand future for him.

"You will be my only Pro-disciple. After I die, the position of Central Palace Master of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace will be yours!!"

"......"

Hearing this, Chu Chen's eyes lit up.

Empress Lin Shuwang had orchestrated his placement to become Qi Lao'er's disciple-was it...

Also with this exact consideration in mind?

She was paving the way for him!

"Disciple is willing!"

"Master fought the four Palace Masters for my sake; disciple is deeply moved!"

As he spoke, Chu Chen immediately dropped to his knees and performed the formal disciple-bowing ceremony toward the throne.

Direct and straightforward!

To act coy at a time like this would just be hypocritical posturing.

To refuse at a time like this would be...

Courting death!

"Good! Haha! Excellent! Truly excellent!"

"From now on, you are my, Qi Lao'er's, Pro-disciple. In the Central Palace of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace, you are second only to me, and above all others!"

Qi Lao'er was overjoyed. Stroking his sparse, nearly bald beard, he looked down excitedly at Chu Chen completing the ceremony.

A glimmer of tears actually shone in his murky old eyes.

"I am advanced in years and prefer peace and quiet. The disciple-bowing ceremony will be kept simple."

"But later, I will announce this to the entire Divine Flame Imperial Palace. I will let the Empress, the four Palace Masters, and all hundreds of thousands of disciples know that you are my disciple-a Pro-disciple of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace!!"

Pro-disciple?

Chu Chen was momentarily stunned.

He had heard from Zhang Ke'er that the disciples of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace adhered to a strict hierarchy.

There were Outer Disciples, Inner Disciples, True Disciples, and Pro-disciples.

Above the Pro-disciples were the Holy Sons of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace.

A Holy Son required the unanimous approval of all five Palace Masters and the Empress, and had to be appointed personally by the Empress herself.

Thus, the position of Holy Son had remained vacant until now!

Generally, newcomers to the Divine Flame Imperial Palace started as Outer Disciples, the absolute lowest rank.

To advance to Inner Disciple, one had to complete the Inner Disciple trial and break through to at least the Essence Condensation Realm.

To advance to True Disciple, one had to complete grueling Sect missions, surviving nine deaths and one life to accumulate merit points.

Only those who reached the required threshold even had a chance at promotion.

This process, if one was incredibly lucky, took several years or even over a decade.

Advancing from True Disciple to Pro-disciple was exponentially harder.

Not only did one need to reach the Spirit Communication Realm, but they also had to catch the eye of one of the five Palace Masters or an Elder from the Elder Council.

There was no logic or metric to it; it relied entirely on the elusive concept of "karmic affinity."

Some disciples reached the Spirit Communication Realm but were never selected. Even if they waited decades until they died of old age, they might never receive the chance to become a Pro-disciple.

Yet he, Chu Chen...

In a single day, he had bypassed it all to directly become a Pro-disciple of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace.

Within the Central Palace, his status was second only to Qi Lao'er himself, placing him above tens of thousands of others.

"Ma... Master, wasn't I... supposed to participate in the Outer Disciple trial?" Chu Chen asked, feigning bewilderment.

"How did I suddenly become a Pro-disciple? I have no cultivation base at all-I haven't even reached the Qi Gathering realm. This..."

"Does this violate Sect rules? Will Master be... targeted by the other Palace Masters because of me?"

He knew perfectly well that being a Pro-disciple was not just a symbol of status. A Pro-disciple's monthly resource allowance was thousands, if not tens of thousands of times greater than that of an Outer Disciple.

Faced with such heaven-defying fortune, he naturally had to... act a little coy.

Just so he wouldn't appear too greedy and calculating in front of his newly acquired master.

"Rest assured. Since you are my disciple, you are naturally a Pro-disciple of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace."

Unhurried and unbothered, Qi Lao'er grew more satisfied with Chu Chen the longer he looked at him.

"I will follow Master's arrangements!"

Chu Chen didn't actually mind. Now that his Meridians were reconnected and he had stepped back onto the path of cultivation, breaking through realms and elevating his strength was his absolute top priority.

But cultivation required vast resources-techniques, wealth, companions, and a proper domain-none could be lacking.

By taking a master and joining a Sect, he was securing those very cultivation resources.

"One must sharpen their axe before cutting wood"-he understood this principle better than anyone.

Qi Lao'er nodded in satisfaction, then suddenly waved his hand.

A Storage Ring floated over to Chu Chen, gently carried by Spiritual Qi.

"This Storage Ring is my gift to you for the disciple-bowing ceremony. You absolutely must not refuse!"

"Inside, there are ten thousand Top Grade Spirit Stones!"

"One hundred thousand High Grade Spirit Stones!"

"Ten thousand various Pills, including Spirit Recovery Pills, Spirit Gathering Pills, Detoxification Pills, and more!"

"Additionally, there is a token symbolizing your identity as a Pro-disciple. With this token, you may freely enter the Red King Palace's Technique Hall, Dharma Treasure Pavilion, Spirit Herb Hall, and all other restricted grounds."

"Every technique in the Technique Hall is yours for the taking! Every Dharma Treasure in the Dharma Treasure Pavilion is yours for the taking! Every stalk of Spirit Grass and Spirit Medicine in the Spirit Herb Hall is yours for the taking!!"

"I will also assign you a mountain peak to establish your Daoist rite, and grant you over a thousand servants and maids to attend to your daily needs while you cultivate."

"......"

Chu Chen was stunned speechless by the overwhelming, heaven-defying fortune laid out before him. Compared to his treatment in the Ye family, the difference was like the nine heavens versus a cesspit.

Finally, Qi Lao'er added one last sentence:

"My disciple, your master will give you the absolute best this world has to offer!"

"......"

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